<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV>Many of us have, at one time or another, gleefully browsed around the great US Patent archive on the web. It's certainly a fine place to explore various electronic inventions, particularly those that relate to synthesizers and music. There's a world of cool stuff to explore there. Sometimes, however, one comes across a patent that makes ones jaw drop to the ground in disbelief. This is one of them:</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><A href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4,022,227.WKU.&OS=PN/4,022,227&RS=PN/4,022,227">http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4,022,227.WKU.&OS=PN/4,022,227&RS=PN/4,022,227</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>note: this particular patent has nothing to do with electronics or music, although it's possible that certain musicians, such as <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crosby">David Crosb</A>y or <A href="http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/images/photos/012.jpg">Morton Subotnick</A>, might have been able to make use of the invention. We're thankful, though, that they didn't.</DIV></BODY></HTML>